The present invention generally relates to adapters for miniature type tape cassettes, used with a standard type recording and/or reproducing apparatus in a state where the adapter accommodates a miniature type tape cassette which is smaller than a standard type tape cassette, and more particularly to an adapter which becomes electrically coupled to the standard type recording and/or reproducing apparatus when the adapter is loaded into the standard type recording and/or reproducing apparatus.
A tape cassette which is smaller than a standard type tape cassette, was previously proposed in a U.S. Pat. No. 4,432,510, in which the assignee is the same as the assignee of the present application. Further, an adapter for the miniature type tape cassette, which is used when loading the miniature type tape cassette into a standard type recording and/or reproducing apparatus, was previously proposed in a U.S. Patent application Ser. No. 340,105 filed Jan. 18, 1982 (now U.S. Pat. No. 4,477,850), in which the assignee is the same as the assignee of the present application. The adapter was designed to accommodate the miniature type tape cassette. When a tape loading operation was performed with respect to the miniature type tape cassette accommodated within the adapter, a predetermined tape path was formed at the front of the adapter. This predetermined tape path at the front of the adapter, corresponded to the tape path at the front of the standard type tape cassette. The adapter accommodating the miniature type tape cassette and having the predetermined tape path at the front thereof, was loaded into the standard type recording and/or reproducing apparatus as in the case of the standard type tape cassette.
In the adapter described above, a tape draw-out mechanism for drawing the tape out of the miniature type tape cassette which is accommodated within the adapter, was designed to be operated manually. For this reason, the adapter was not perfectly and conveniently designed for the user. Hence, a more conveniently designed adapter having a motor and a battery built therein was proposed. According to this motorized type adapter, the predetermined tape path was formed at the front of the adapter, automatically by the motor.
On the other hand, when the operator wanted to change the miniature type tape cassette which is being played on the conventional standard type recording and/or reproducing apparatus to another miniature type tape cassette, the adapter had to be once unloaded from the standard type recording and/or reproducing apparatus. Then, the miniature type tape cassette accommodated within the unloaded adapter was changed to the other miniature type tape cassette, and the adapter accommodating the other miniature type tape cassette was again loaded into the standard type recording and/or reproducing apparatus. Hence, especially when the miniature type tape cassette accommodated within the adapter had to be changed successively a plurality of times, it was necessary to repeat an operation in which the adapter is unloaded from the standard type recording and/or reproducing apparatus, the miniature type tape cassette accommodated within the unloaded adapter is changed to a different miniature type tape cassette by manually operating the tape draw-out mechanism twice, and the adapter accommodating the different miniature type tape cassette is again loaded into the standard type recording and/or reproducing apparatus. Therefore, there was a problem in that the miniature type tape cassette accommodated within the adapter could not be changed quickly, because the loaded adapter had to be once unloaded from the conventional standard type recording and/or reproducing apparatus and the tape draw-out mechanism had to be operated manually in order to change the miniature type tape cassette. As a result, the recording and/or reproduction was interrupted for a long period of time while the miniature type tape cassette was being changed.
Accordingly, a recording and/or reproducing apparatus was designed on the precondition that the adapters which will be loaded into this recording and/or reproducing apparatus are the motorized type adapter described before, in order to reduce the duration of the interruption of the recording and/or reproduction while the miniature type tape cassette was being changed. According to this recording and/or reproducing apparatus, the tape draw-out mechanism was operated by the motor while the adapter was unloaded from the loaded position to an eject position or loaded into the loaded position from the eject (or inserting) position, so as to eliminate the need to operate the tape draw-out mechanism outside the recording and/or reproducing apparatus.
The motorized type adapter is not electrically coupled to the above recording and/or reproducing apparatus even when the adapter is loaded into the recording and/or reproducing apparatus. Hence, it is impossible to supply an information related to the operating state within the adapter, from the adapter to the recording and/or reproducing apparatus, so that the recording and/or reproducing apparatus may operate responsive to this information. Further, the motor within the adapter is not coupled to a power source of the recording and/or reproducing apparatus, so that the motor within the adapter may be driven by the power source of the recording and/or reproducing apparatus. The battery within the adapter is therefore used to drive the motor within the adapter even when the adapter is loaded into the recording and/or reproducing apparatus. However, the capacity of the battery within the adapter is limited due to its size. Thus, there was a problem in that the serviceable life of the battery within the adapter was relatively short.